THE NABISCO CHAMPIONSHIP

March 21, 2001

Annika Sorenstam

ANNIKA SORENSTAM: Yeah, I am happy to be here today. It has been a rough few days, but I feel much better now with a little rest behind me and just happy to be out playing a little bit, swing a little bit. This is the tournament that I have been waiting for so now it is here so I am really excited about that.

ANNIKA SORENSTAM: Well, it has been, first of all, a lot of golf, a lot of tough golf playing in the last group. It is a lot of pressure, a lot of excitement. I was actually quite tired after Tucson; then coming into Phoenix and shooting such a low score on Friday I could not have asked for -- it was just incredible. There was so much pressure and so much -- I mean, I was overwhelmed, just emotionally I have been tired; then to finish up to win on Sunday in Phoenix it was just emotionally draining. I am very happy but it took so much out of me. I just needed to rest a few days.

ANNIKA SORENSTAM: Oh, yeah. Like I said, I have been looking forward to this tournament for so long that I mean, I am going to have all the energy that I need tomorrow. I will be pumped up.

ANNIKA SORENSTAM: I am making a lot of putts. I am hitting a lot of good shots too which gives me a lot of birdie opportunities. I am just -- it has been so solid overall from tee-to-green, and then I am making the putts. I had one or two 3-putts in 8 rounds which is unusual for me. I am holding those birdie putts between eight and ten feet which I have lot of those and now they are going in and I am making birdies. I haven't made a lot of mistakes. I haven't been in trouble. That is the way I have been able to score.

ANNIKA SORENSTAM: I was a little worried a few years ago, but now I am really happy. I am excited. I feel very comfortable with the putter in my hand right now. I look forward going up to the green and making the putt. Before I didn't want to get up to the green because I knew what was going to happen. Now it is like give me the chance, I want to make it.

ANNIKA SORENSTAM: It has definitely not sunk in yet, and I think I must agree with David, it seems like it is going to take a few months. I have always dreamed about shooting 54 and here I was very close, and I didn't really know what to expect and how to feel. When people asked for my signature they want me to put 59 and it is a little unusual but I love it obviously. But it is going to take a while to sink in.

ANNIKA SORENSTAM: I mean, it is only two shots, but it is so much more than just two shots. I can't even describe it, the difference. I remember it's a special feeling on Friday last week, I mean, I felt like I was so much in control. I hit every green and I made, you know, 13 birdies. When I shot 61 at Sara Lee in Tennessee, I remember holing a few shots. It was a little more luck. Here it was just simple golf, fairway green, make the putt. It was just kinds of the dream round that I have in my head.

ANNIKA SORENSTAM: When I came down the end I needed to birdie every hole.

ANNIKA SORENSTAM: I shot 7-under on the back, so I kind of recovered more than at Moon Valley I started 8-under on the back so then it was the opposite.

ANNIKA SORENSTAM: What comes to my mind is just how easy it felt in the sense I wasn't worrying about anything. I would stand on the tee; I would just swing it. I would stand on the fairway, I was just trying to hit the green. I wasn't worrying where the ball was going; same thing on my putting, I wasn't worrying about my second putt. I was just looking at the hole and that is what I was concerned about. Just it -- like I was so free in my mind, there was no excess or whatever you call it around me. It was this is what I was doing. I know in the past I would think so much around the course: What happens if I hit it there; where is the best place to play. This is just a matter of hitting it the way I want to hit it.

ANNIKA SORENSTAM: No excuses. The majors mean a lot to me and the last few years I have come into them with a lot of -- with high expectations wanting to them so badly. I felt the same way this year, but I think I have learned a little bit the last few years that I am just going to try and stay calm; not try to win the tournament the first day which is what I have done in the past. I have been putting too much pressure on myself too early instead of just trying to play steady golf and hopefully I am in contention on Sunday. That is what I want to be in. I want to have a chance on Sunday. If I can just keep my nerves and it is almost like you are in the starting block and I start too early. I have to wait for the gun to go.

ANNIKA SORENSTAM: Well, I think we will find out, but obviously it's got a lot of attention and I just saw the cover on Golf Week, Golf World, that is a great start. I think it gives publicity to the Tour. I think it gives some credibility to the players out here. We can play -- I hope people -- there are other players out here that I think can do the same. Who knows when it will be, but there is some good golf out here.

ANNIKA SORENSTAM: I have to admit I have come over here a few times. Not because we have this tournament here but because I really love this golf course. I think it's a fabulous course. Especially the last few holes, some great golf holes. I do think the course fits my game well. It demands accuracy off the tee. It demands good iron shots into the greens also. And I have done good here in the past. What I can recall in 1996 I finished second. I lost to Patty Sheehan by one single shot. That has been haunting me a little bit. I know I can play out here. It is, I think the last two years I have got off to shaky starts, that I always had to play catchup. And this year I am just -- hopefully I will get off to a good start and after that I won't have to catch up so much.

ANNIKA SORENSTAM: I don't know how much she wants to beat me, but I want to beat her. It has been that way for a while. I really admire Karrie in many ways. First of all, she is a wonderful player and I mean, the way she has played the last two years, I mean, it is just -- you knew that if you beat her you really played good golf. That is what has motivated me. That is -- you knew you'd come out and you knew you had a challenge. It pushed me. I am happy it did because I put a lot of hours in; now it is paying off. I just thank Karrie.

ANNIKA SORENSTAM: I don't know where the score card is but I'd like to get it back. I will frame it and put it in my house.

ANNIKA SORENSTAM: I think I slacked off a little bit in the end of 1999, maybe end of 1998 a little bit just because things were just -- things were just going my way. I did practice a lot, but I won a lot of tournaments in 1996, 1997 and it felt real easy at the time. Then Karrie came in just in another gear and that is when I kind of woke up and realized that and I think it was good because after 1999 when I finished fourth on the money list, I was not happy. That kind of pushed me and that is what I needed.

ANNIKA SORENSTAM: I focused a lot on my putting. I knew that is what I needed to get better, especially after I left Daytona Beach, Tour Championship, I told myself I am going home to putt and putt and putt. That is what I have done. I figured there is nothing wrong with me; I should be able to putt; it's just a matter of putting in the time and then be able to do it when I come to the course. I figured if I have a lot of practice hours behind me, that should help me when I come into a tournament. And I got off to a good start in Hawaii which is what I needed just to see the confidence and then after that it has been great. I am seeing putts. I am seeing lines and now all I want to do is putt. So it has changed a little bit.

ANNIKA SORENSTAM: Give me a tight course, something with tight fairways. I don't mind rough. But I love to play the guys. I enjoy every year when we play in this kind of mixed event. I love playing with the guys. I think it is fun to see how they do things and how they play. I am always up for a challenge, so pick a course that is quite narrow. Distance I don't mind but if you hit it straight I think I have a little advantage there. Not the distance but the accuracy.

ANNIKA SORENSTAM: I think that is very tough to measure but I do think by, you know, I worked out a lot. I don't get tired as easily and I think if I wasn't in as good shape I probably would have gotten really tired after that Friday. But thanks to the workout, I think, I want to believe that it helped me to be able to win the tournament.

ANNIKA SORENSTAM: I hope a lot.

ANNIKA SORENSTAM: You have got to ask the other players.